AN ACT CONCERNING TOXIC FIRE RETARDANTS IN CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS.

OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS

Legislative Office Building, Room 5200

Hartford, CT 06106 ↓ (860) 240-0200

http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa

HB-5035

AN ACT CONCERNING TOXIC FIRE RETARDANTS IN CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS.

Agency Affected	Fund-Effect	FY 15 $	FY 16 $
Consumer Protection, Dept.	GF - Cost	None	62,000
State Comptroller - Fringe Benefits¹	GF - Cost	None	10,265

Municipal Impact: None

Explanation

The bill results in a cost to the state of $72,265 in FY 16. This includes the cost of a part-time Product Safety Inspector (PSI) at the Department of Consumer Protection ($29,000) with associated Other Expenses ($5,000) and testing costs of ($28,000) along with a fringe benefit cost of $10,265.

The PSI would be responsible for developing and implementing an awareness campaign for retailers along with periodically monitoring retail establishments for compliance. The monitoring would include purchasing suspect items and having such items tested for toxic fire retardants. It is assumed that approximately 80 products per year would be tested at a cost of $350 per item.

The Out Years

The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to inflation and the number of items tested.

¹The fringe benefit costs for most state employees are budgeted centrally in accounts administered by the Comptroller. The estimated active employee fringe benefit cost associated with most personnel changes is 36.66% of payroll in FY 15 and FY 16.